What it's about: Rebellion against the "Equals," England's magic-wielding, aristocratic ruling class, is not going well for enslaved siblings Abi and Luke Hadley.

Series alert: This sequel to Gilded Cage is the middle volume of the Dark Gifts trilogy; newcomers should start with book 1.

You might also like: Samantha Shannon's Bone Season novels, which chronicle uprisings by an oppressed underclass in an alternate dystopian version of England; Zen Cho's Sorcerer Royal series, set in a rigidly hierarchical historical Britain in which magic equals power.

Introducing: Kyra, a newly minted Markswoman in the Order of Kali, which relies on martial arts and teleportation to dispense justice, and Kyra's rival-turned-romantic-interest Rustan, her counterpart in the all-male Order of Khur.

Read it for: a sisterhood of assassins who telepathically bond with their weapons, an Asia-inspired setting, and the dramatic story of a young woman who must kill or be killed after she uncovers a terrible secret.

What it's about:NCIS Special Agent Shannon Moss chases a suspect through different timelines and soon realizes that all possible futures indicate disaster.

About the author: Tom Sweterlitsch's debut, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, featured criminal investigations into alternate worlds of a different sort: archived digital reconstructions of a pre-apocalyptic society.

For fans of: twisty time travel tales such as Robert Dickinson's The Tourist or William Gibson's The Peripheral.

Starring: Ursula Todd, born on a winter's night in 1910 England -- again and again, as each death brings her back to the same point in time and space. Does Ursula choose her path(s) in life, or do they choose her?

You might also like: Jo Walton's My Real Children, which also offers a haunting meditation on life and death, fate and free will, by recounting an ordinary 20th-century British woman's alternate lives.

What it's about: Harry August is a kalachakra, an immortal reborn again and again with memories intact. Interwoven with Harry's recollections of his many lives are tantalizing hints about the end of the world.

You might also like: Matt Haig's How to Stop Time, another engaging novel whose effectively immortal protagonist attempts to make sense of his own existence.

Introducing: Milo, who has been reincarnated 9,995 times. If he fails to achieve perfection before he reaches his limit of 10,000 lives, he'll just...end. That would mean losing his lover, Death (a.k.a. "Suzie").

Want a taste? "This is the story of a wise man named Milo. It begins on the day he was eaten by a shark."

For fans of: the gentle but incisive humor of Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man; the ontological quirkiness of Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job.

Contact your librarian for more great books!

Kitchener Public Library85 Queen St. North Kitchener, Ontario N2H2H1519-743-0271http://www.kpl.org/